Pat Mahomes: The NFL's shiny new toy

NFL week 2 is upon us and if you are still alive in your survivor pool, congratulations; you were one of the few who avoided the New Orleans Saints pitfall.

But on to the business of handicapping the mouthwatering matchup of Pat Mahomes and the Chiefs vs. Big Ben and the Steelers.

THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE

Andy Reid usually fires fast out of the gates in the regular season where Mike Tomlin and the Steelers usually start slow; with the common narrative posed by the media being that Big Ben is finished.

And a week 1 road performance in bad weather led to a 60.5 qb rating and 3 interceptions for the 36 year old Steelers gunslinger, so we can cue up the same storylines. However for his career Ben Roethlisberger has a qb rating of 99.1 at home which is nearly 11 point better than on the road, so let things playout before we put the nails in his coffin.

Yet the fact remains that the Steelers are not a good team against the spread in September in the Mike Tomlin era, whereas the Chiefs in the Andy Reid era, are.

Having covered their last 5 games in September and going 11-4 in their last 15 road games overall, Kansas City is getting good value at -4.5 (where this line is still available).

KEY ABSENCES

It is looking unlikely that the Leveon Bell and Eric Berry will play Sunday. The Steelers may miss Bell’s absence slightly less than the Chiefs miss Berry’s.

POTHOLES

By Potholes, I simply mean, things that may skip your radar that are worth paying attention to.

The majority of the betting money so far is on the Chiefs, and there is usually a sentiment towards fading the public in cases like this.

A rookie qb playing his 2nd of back to back road games would usually indicate you go against them, but Andy Reid is 4-1 ATS in his last 5 in the 2nd of back to back road games.

Line movement towards the Chiefs and the over

Opening Line was Steelers -5, but has since gone down to -4 on most books

2

the total opened at 49.5 but has gone up an entire field goal to 52.5

Pat Mahomes: The NFL's shiny new toy

The Chiefs new shining star at the quarterback position is Patrick Mahomes Jr.

The Jr. is key as Patrick Mahomes Sr. is a retired professional baseball pitcher, and the apple did not fall far from the tree. Like many NFL quarterbacks, the complimentary skill sets also made him an MLB pitching prospect, and as observed in week one, with his side arm sling to Tyreke Hill that went for a touchdown, Mahomes has many different throws in his arsenal.